Pimonrat Tiansawat

• Doctor of Philosophy in Plant Biology
• Assistant Professor at Chiang Mai University

Ex situ storage of recalcitrant seeds is challenging, due to seed-desiccation sensitivity. Various moist storage techniques have been used to store seeds, but moist conditions also promote fungal infection. This study determined suitable sterilizing agents for surface cleaning and suitable moist storage conditions for three tree species: Heynea tri...

To upscale restoration of tropical forest ecosystems, direct seeding-sowing seeds directly into the ground-is potentially a more cost-effective technique than tree planting. However, its success is limited by seed predation, the harshness of environmental conditions on restoration sites and particularly by a lack of information about suitable tree...

Forest ecosystem restoration involves establishing mixes of tree species representing various successional stages of the reference forest. When selecting species, conceptualizing successional status as a gradient of guilds is more appropriate than the conventional binary classification of pioneer and climax species. Therefore, we tested the hypothe...

Tree planting is widely accepted as a strategy to mitigate climate change, with a strong focus on use of native tree species. Various kinds of fertilizer have been recommended to produce optimal quality planting stocks for forest restoration. This study tested the hypothesis that additional fertilizer could improve seedling growth and alter biomass...

Recognizing initial degradation levels is essential to planning effective measures to restore tropical forest ecosystems. However, measuring indicators of forest degradation is labour-intensive, time-consuming, and expensive. This study explored the use of canopy-height models and orthophotos, derived from drone-captured RGB images, above sites at...

Traditional knowledge of the plants used for textile dyeing is disappearing due to the utilization of synthetic dyes. Recently, natural products made from plants have gained global interest. Thus, preserving traditional knowledge of textile dyeing plants is crucial. Here, we documented this knowledge by interviewing 2070 informants from 14 communit...

As interest in restoring tropical forests surges, so does the need for effective methods to ensure success. The framework species method (FSM) restores forest ecosystems by densely planting open sites, close to natural forest, with woody species, indigenous to the reference ecosystem and selected for their ability to accelerate ecological successio...

In many parts of the world, primates and other arboreal and semi-arboreal species use electrical and telecommunication cables to cross open gaps. However, electrocutions can occur when the cables are uninsulated or damaged. Between 2001 and 2002, during a 12-month behavioural study of two dusky langur groups ( Trachypithecus obscurus ) at the Royal...

Selecting tree species to plant for forest ecosystem restoration is critical but problematic. Knowing tree species’ climatic niches can help, but such information is limited for most tropical tree species. Consequently, the research presented here explored the use of climate and species record location data, to map the potential distribution of fou...

Tree diversity in Asia's tropical and subtropical forests is central to nature-based solutions. Species vulnerability to multiple threats, which affects the provision of ecosystem services, is poorly understood. We conducted a region-wide, spatially explicit vulnerability assessment (including overexploitation, fire, overgrazing, habitat conversion...

A challenge for forest restoration is the monitoring of success, particularly of seedling survivorship. The 3D-point-cloud models, generated from aerial images taken from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are useful in monitoring vegetation recovery. However, the use of aerial images is challenging due to small seedling size. Many photogrammetry sof...

Soil seed banks have been used for investigation of natural regeneration of forests. In this study, we compared seed density and species composition of soil seed banks of trees among natural forests, restored forests of different ages, and abandoned agricultural land. The soil seed banks were collected from a natural forest (NF), 12-year-old and 17...

Opencast mining removes topsoil and associated bacterial communities that play crucial roles in soil ecosystem functioning. Understanding the community composition and functioning of these organisms may lead to improve mine-rehabilitation practices. We used a culture-dependent method, combined with Illumina sequencing, to compare the taxonomic rich...

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been gaining in popularity and are used in many fields, including biodiversity conservation. They are currently available in many sizes and forms, and they can be used for aerial photography, mapping and monitoring natural resources. To use UAVs for automated forest restoration (AFR), technologies involved must...

We review recent ecological research on functional traits that can aid selection of tree species for restoration by aerial seeding. A major barrier in selecting species for restoration of hyperdiverse tropical forests is a lack of silvicultural and ecological information. Functional traits give insight into the potential performance of tree species...

Practitioners often concentrate most on the technical aspects of forest restoration and less on the social aspects, whilst often ignoring legal aspects. Social considerations include involving all stakeholders in planning, tree plant-ing or tending natural regeneration, and monitoring. The most important legal considerations are usually concerned w...

Wild food plants are commonly used in the traditional diets of indigenous people in many parts of the world, including northern Thailand. The potential contribution of wild food plants to the nutrition of the Karen and Lawa communities remains poorly understood. Wild food plants, with a focus on leafy vegetables, were ranked by the Cultural Food Si...

An oral presentation about using species distribution modeling to help with species selection for forest restoration

Gathering of wild food plants represent original practices of indigenous people. The uses of wild food plant species are not only important in traditional dishes but also for the people’s health based on the medicinal properties of the plants. This study was aimed to examine the diversity patterns and similarity of wild food plants in the Karen and...

Storage of native forest tree seeds is essential for the development of seed-based forest restoration methods, such as direct or aerial seeding and for increasing representation of native trees in nurseries, for conventional tree planting. The study, presented here, investigated seed germination, dormancy and storage behaviour of 16 native tree spe...

About half of the cost for forest restoration with Framework Species Method is seedling production cost. Root pruning is a seedling care practice which promotes better tree seedlings, but it is time consuming and labor intensive. This study aims to find a suitable nursery practice to reduce seedling production cost and to yield good quality seedlin...

Herbaceous weeds often hinder forest restoration projects by reducing the establishment of planted tree seedlings. The study, presented here, compared survival and health of tree seedlings in the presence and absence of weeds, from 1. 5 to 2 years after planting, to restore montane evergreen forest ( 1,300 m above sea level) from abandoned agricult...

Understanding the composition of tree species in tropical forests provides information for forest restoration and conservation. The objectives of this study were to determine the tree composition of three different types of forests in northern Thailand and to explore the relationship between tree height and diameter at breast height (DBH) and to de...

A conference oral presentation (presented by Pimonrat Tiansawat) about seed removal of native tree species' seeds. The work is done in Mon Cham, Chiang Mai, northern Thailand.

Pre‐dispersal seed predation can greatly reduce crop size affecting recruitment success. In addition, non‐fatal damage by seed predators may allow infection by fungi responsible for post‐dispersal seed losses. The objectives of this study were (1) to quantify pre‐dispersal seed predation and fungal infection in a Neotropical tree species, Luehea se...

In insects, juvenile hormone (JH) and 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) regulate larval growth and molting. However, little is known about how this cooperative control is terminating larval diapause especially in the bamboo borer, Omphisa fuscidentalis. In both in vivo and in vitro experiments, we here measured the expression levels of genes which were affe...

The specificity of the DH-PBAN primers. (A) PCR product of OfDH-PBAN mRNA by using primers OfDH-SPF and OfDH-SPR. M, marker for DNA molecular weight. (B) Nucleotide sequence and the deduced amino acid sequence of the PCR products. (PDF)

Developmental changes of OfDH-PBAN mRNA in prothoracic gland during diapause (October to April) and post-diapause (pupation) which were measured by a quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction. The results are expressed as the relative expression after normalization against endogenous ribosomal protein mRNA (OfRpL3). Expression is relative to...

Insect is the most abundant group in the world, many insects are natural enemies for plant. In dimension of reforestation by direct seeding, seed and seedling predation after sowing seed on the ground is one of the limitations of forest restoration by direct seeding. The study was investigated the diversity of seed and seedling predator insects in...

One limitation of forest restoration by direct seeding in degraded areas is seed predation by animals foraging on the ground. Seeds sown on the ground can be removed or destroyed leading to loss of germination ability. Knowing small mammals and bird species and evaluating their roles relating to seed predation are beneficial for forest restoration...

Tree species composition and aboveground carbon sequestration in trees of abandoned jungle tea plantations of Mae On District, Chiang Mai Province One primary question in the recovery of forested areas affected by anthropogenic land use is how long does it take for an area to become forest. The objective of this study was to compare tree species co...

Here is the link to download the book. http://www.fao.org/3/a-i5412e.pdf

The seed stage is often critical in determining the regeneration success of plants. Seeds must survive an array of seed predators and pathogens and germinate under conditions favourable for seedling establishment. To maximise recruitment success plants protect seeds using a diverse set of chemical and physical defences. However, the relationship be...

We studied traditional knowledge of medicinal plants used by Tai Yai people in northern Thailand. We documented traditional medical practices and determined importance among the Tai Yai. This paper reports on knowledge in usage of medicinal plants of the Tai Yai people in northern Thailand. Interviews were conducted in 4 Tai Yai villages in Mae Hon...

Variation in vegetation density creates a range of red to far-red ratios of irradiance (R:FR) potentially permitting fine-scale discrimination of light conditions for seed germination. However, remarkably few studies have explored whether R:FR responses of germination vary among species that differ in distribution and life-history traits. In this s...

According to the regeneration niche hypothesis, the transition from seeds to seedlings is critical in determining plant distribution patterns. This initial stage of recruitment may be strongly influenced by seed mass via effects on the sensitivity to light quality and soil moisture availability for germination, and via susceptibility to predators a...